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The significance of the date
April 22 was the birthday of actor Eddie Albert. Because of Eddie Albert's early work with environmental causes and groups, when International Earth Day was created, it was decided it must be held on April 22 because that is his birthday. [15]
April 21 was the birthday of John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club. This is not lost on organizers who thought that April 22 was Muir's birthday.
April 22, 1970 was the 100th birthday of Vladimir Lenin. Time reported that some suspected the date was not a coincidence, but a clue that the event was "a Communist trick," and quoted a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution saying, "Subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that is good for them."[9] J. Edgar Hoover, director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, may have found the Lenin connection intriguing; it was alleged the FBI conducted surveillance at the 1970 demonstrations.[16] The idea that the date was chosen to celebrate Lenin's centenary still persists in some quarters,[17][18] although Lenin was never noted as an environmentalist.

April 22 is also the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, a national tree-planting holiday started in 1872. Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska in 1885, to be permanently observed on April 22. According to the National Arbor Day Foundation "the most common day for the state observances is the last Friday in April . . . but a number of state Arbor Days are at other times to coincide with the best tree planting weather."[19] It has since been largely eclipsed by the more widely observed Earth Day, except in Nebraska, where it originated.